Railway signaling system.



PATENTBD MAY 29, 1906. A. AMES, JR. & J. s. HOBS'ON. RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM. 1

' .APPLlOAT-ION FILED r ..z- 190s. EB a SHEETS-SHEET 1,

PATBNTED MAY 29. 1906. A. AMES, JR. & J. S. HOBSOBL BAIL-WAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

PPLIOATI N 906.

A I O FILED FEB 24,-1 3 BHBETs sHEET 2 ,916; PATENTED MAY 29, 1906 A. A MES, JR. & J. s. HOBSON. RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

' APPLICATION ,2, 06.

FILED FEB 4 19 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

canine -srArils PATENT rrinri- A/iE AMES, Ja, or oLEvn AND, onio, AND JOHN s'. HOBSON, or nneswoon PARK, rnugvsvnvania-Assienons TO THE UNION swrrcn AND SIGNAL COMPANY, or SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA. A CORPORATION or PENNSYLVANIA.

No. .ssneae.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I atented May 29, 1906.

Applicatimifiled itbmr 24,1906. Serial No. 3021761.

- To all whom itmtay concern:

' Be it known that we, AZEL-AMES,. TI.,leSl(l ing at Cleveland, in the county of Ciiyahog'a and St te of Ohio, and JOHN S. Hon'sdn, residing at ltdg'ewood Park, in the'county of Allegheny andState of Y'ennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Signaling Systems, of which the following is a sgecification.

ur invention relates to railway block-signaling systems in which the railway-signals comprised in the system are automatically controlled bya car or train traveling along the railway, andparticularly relates to systerns wherein the indications given: by the signals embrace-not only the condition of the block lying immediately ahead, but embraces also anindication,of the condition of the next succeeding block. Such indications are usually given by using two arms} usually upon the same 0st,) the :upper fol the block a cad and the ower for,-the next succeeding block; but they are not unfrequently given by a single blade having three ositions of indication. I Usually the mechanism designed to' operate two separate home and dis t'antsignals'on the same post is adaptable to give the desired movements to one arm having three positions of indication. Such a railway-signal 'is shown and described in Patent No. 638,478, and the controllipg-circuits and appliances used for, the one system are hence equally applicable to the other- The indications commonly ascribed to t'ae positions of the semaphore-arms in a, two-posiclindtposition indicates tion home and distant system area-s follows:

Homeisignal in horizontal position indicates dangerst op. Home signal in inclined position indicates -clear-proceed."" Distant signal in horizontal position indicates cautionproceed. Distant signal in inclear-procee,di In the single-arm railway-signal having three positions of indication the indications are as follows: Horizontal indicate; dangerstop. Inclined a t forty-five degrees above or below horizontal indicates caution. Inclined at ninety degrees above or below horizontal indicates i clearroceed.

In the following description wr lave usually referred'to the indications given the signals as horizontal for danger or caution, and inclined for clear.

We will describe a railway signaling system embodying our invention and then point out the novel features thereof in claims. We have preferred to illustrate and describe a two-arm home and distant system, though the circuits and apparatus as hereinafter set forth and described are equally applicable to the single-arm three-position system. I

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 '2, 3, and 4 illustrate, respectively, diagrammatic views of a portion of a railway and a signaling system embodying .,our invention applied thereto, the several figures showing '0 e normal condition of the signals and their.

controlling-circuits and also the condition of said signals and circuits as they are affected by a car or train in passing along and through the several block-sections. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing a car or train entering the main line from a siding or branch and. the effect such car or train will have on the circuits and associated signals. Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating a system embodying our inventionawherein certain relays',-cir cuits, and contacts are omitted,

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts in' all the several figures of the drawings.

' A designates a portion of railway-track, and a a insulations provided at different points in the railway-track in the usual m anner for dividing it into a number of blocks or sections A A A3, 620. At the entrance end of each block-section a railway-signal S S 8*, &c., is provided, and these signals may be of any desired or usual construction, although. those of. the semaphore type are preferably employed, and this type of signal we'have diagrammatically illustrated in the drawings.

Each railway-signal is shown as provided with two semaphore-blades s s s s 8 8 &c.,

s s s, &c., being the home semaphoresv and s s 8 being the distant semaphores, although, if preferred, each railway-signal may be provided with one semaphore-arm capable of displaying three distinct indications, as hereinbefore described. The railway-signals are primarily controlled by track-circuits, one being provided for each block-section, and the passage ofa train through the block-sections successively affects these and other circuits to cause or permit the railway-signals to operate. For eX- ample, a train or car entering and passing along block-section A will effect the trackcircuit thereof, and railway-signal S will be 0 erated to permit its semaphores to move to t eir horizontal ositions, and after the train or car has passe out of block-section A and into block-section A the home semaphore on the railway-signal S (for block-section A) will be moved to its inclined or clear position, whilethe distant semaphore on the same railwaysignal willbe held in its horizontal or caution position. When the train sha'll have passed into the block-section A the circuits for the railway-signal S will again be affected to cause the distant signal thereof to be moved to the inclined position. The

train also on entering block-section A? af' affects the track-circuit thereof to ermit the semaphores of railway-signal S designated 8 "8 to move -to thelr horizontal positions, and so on throughout the entire system. This, however, is well known in the art and needs no'furth'er description.

In. Figs- 1 to 5 we have shown block-sectio'i s A A- A, &c., as being subdivided to form what is, termed inthe art as out sections' by providing intermediately-disposed insulation's a. 41 in which event additional track-batteries B B B &e., will be provided for each of the subdividedsections. These cut sectionsmay be provided where the block-sections are unusually long and in other cases which would render a single battery 'insufiicient for providing the necessary ene'r y to operate the relay or relays of the bloc section. In Fig. 6 the block-sections are shown as notbeing divided. So far as our invention is concerned either arrangement may be employed. 4 I

As hereinbefore stated, each block-section is provided with a track-circuit, each of which maybe ,traced as follows, Figs. 1 to 5: starting from one pole of battery B to wire 2, rail 3, wire 4 to and through relay R, wire 5, opposite rail 6, and wire 7 to battery B. The armature 1" of relay B when attracted to its front contactcloses a second circuit which, starting from one pole of battery B, iswire 8, rail 9, wire 10,.relay R, wire 11, opposite rail 12, wires 13 14 15, armature r of relay R, and wire 16, back to battery B. The armatures r r r r r of the relays R R R R R are included in line-circuits. The relays R R, &c., may-be of a well-known construction and are, with their armatures, diagrammatically illustrated to show the different circuits in which they are included.

B B B &c., designate what, we term main batteries or any desired sources of electric energy, one pole of each being connest-ed with a common line-wirc L, while the other are included in line-circuits, as

vided for and are included in what we herein' term the line-circuits and control the operation of the railway-signals, and We shall hereinafter refer to them as line-relays. These line relays are arranged in pairs, one pair being provided for each railwaysignal and preferably sowound that one relay in each set not only has a greater ohmic resistance than the other, but is in itself made slow releasing. By slow-releasing we wish to be understood as meaning that the .relay acts to release or drop its armature slowly and will not release its armature when the current passing through its'coils is momentarily interrupted. Such types of relays are well known in theart and usually comprise a closed circuit which acts to retard the demagnetization of the core of the relay when the energizin -current is cut off from the relay. The coi s of the other relays R R R &c., in each set are woundto a lower ohmic resistance than those of the slow-releasing relays R R R, &c., so that under certain conditionsnamely, when the amount of current flowing through these coils isless than a certain amount, due to the presence of a resistanc'e-coil in the circuit or other causes they will not be sufficiently energized to at tract their armatures r 1" r, &c. The coils of the line-relays R B R, &c., are wound to higher ohmic resistance than the coils of the line-relays R R B &c., and for purposes of illustration let it be assumed that each of the line-relays R R R, &c., are wound to a resistance of seventy-five ohms and each of the slow-releasing line-relays R R R, &c., are wound to a resistance of three hundred ohms. In order to control the opening and closing of the relays R R R R B &c., under certain conditions, we may employ resistance-coils and circuit-controllers.

O O, &c.., designate resistance-coils of, say, seven hundred ohms each, which are included at times in the circuits of the line-relays R R R, &c. Appropriate circuit-controllers C C 620., operated, preferably, by the semaphores, are employed at-times to cut in and out of the line circuits the resistances O O, &c., and circuit-controllers C C, &c., also operated, preferably, by semaphores, are employed to momentarily open the -line-c1rcuits. By means of these circuit-controllers the resistance in the line-circuits of the linerelays R R R R R R, &c., may be va- 821,916 Set C &c., should be quick-acting in order that only a momentary break in the circuits in which they are included may take place while the signal-arm (preferably the hornesignal arm) is moving from one of its posi-' tions of indication to another. This is for the purpose of momentarily cutting out the main batteries B B B &c., from the linerelays R R. R R R R, &c., so as to insure the positive release of the armatures of relays R R R, &c., where such release is required, aswill be later on described.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the circuits for controlling the operation of the railway-signals from batteries B B B may be traced as follows: starting from battery B thence through wires 17 18, circuit-controllers C C of railway-signal S, wire 19, armature and front contact of track-relay R, wire 20, armature and front contact of-relay R,

Wire 21, line-relays R R, wire 22, common wire L and wire 28, back to battery B. When' the circuit-controllers C C are opened, the line-circuit is closed at that point through wire 24 and resistance 0. Such controllingcircuits, as above described," are provided for each railway-signal.

- and 23 to battery B.

and line-relays.

The operation of local circuit for each railway-signalmay be traced as follows; For example, railway-signal S. The circuit for the home semaphore s of this railway-signal is battery B, wires 17 24 25, operating mechanism for sema hore 8 wire 26 armature and front contact of relay R and wires 27,-L, The circuit for the distant semaphore s of this railway-signal is battery B wires 17 24 28, operating mechanism for distant semaphore s wire 29, circuit-breaker C, operated by home semaphore S, wire 30, armature and front contact of relay R and wires 27, L, and 23, to battery B. Such operating-circuits as above described are provided for each railway-signal.

' Fig. 1 designates the usual condition of the circuits, apparatus, railway-signals, &c,' in short, the system and the railway-signals when no car or train is present. In this condition the resistances O O, &c.', are shunted, so that the full currents from the batteries B B &c., are flowing through the line-circuits Currents from the batteries B B &c., are flowing in the operating or 10- cal circuits bf the railway-signals, and they are consequently in their lllCliTlGLl or clear po sition of indication.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be noted that a train or car is in the block-section A,

which' will have the effect of short-circuiting the battery B, causing thetraclerelays R R to drop their armatures. When this occurs, the line-circuit on line-relays B R is opened and the relays drop their armatures, thus opening the operating or local circuits on railway-signal S, thereby permitting the semaphores s s thereof to move to their hori- Zontal positions. from the blo'cl section A' into the block-section A see Fig. 3) causes the short-circuiting of the relays R R which drop their armatures and open the line-circuit on line-relays R R", which in turn drop their armatures and open the o crating or local circuits of railway-signal thereby permitting the semaphores s 3 thereof to move 'to their horizontal positions. As soon as the train passes out of the block-section A the track relays R R again attracted their armatures and close the line-circuit on relays R R The movement of the semaphore s of rail waysignal S 'to the horizontal position opens the circuit-controller C" and momentarily opens circuit-controller C so that the current for line-circuit for relays R R passes through resistance 0. The current flowing through the line-circuit at this time is sufli- The train or car on passing cient only to cause line-relay R to pick up its armature, and thus close the o crating or. I

local circuit of sema hore s of rai way-signal S, (see Fig. 3,) whic will cause semaphore s to move to its inclined position, thus closing the circuit-controller C, located atv that oint.

l/Vhen the 'train leaves block-section 2 and entersblock-section A, (see Fig. 4,) railwaysignal S is affected in the same manner as described in connection with railway-signals s of railway-signal S to its inclined position 0 erates the circuit-controller C located at t at point to cut out the resistance O, so that current from battery B will be sufficient to energize both line-relays R R and cause them to attract their armatures and close the The moving of the home semaphore operating or local circuits of railway-signal S.

- shown as in Figs. 1 to 4, the only difference being that the block-sections A A &c., are not cut, in Figs. 1 to 4. This arrangement, Fig. 6, eliminates a relay and battery cell from the track-circuit of each block-section. The system of Fig. 6 operates in precisely the same manner as described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4. I

An advantage of employing quick-acting circuit-breal ersto wit, C C C, &c., and slow-acting relays R R", &c.will now be pointed out. Should the home signal of a block-section by any chance momentarily be set to its horizontal position in a manner different from the hereinbefore-descfibed regular operation of the system-as, for example, by a train backing into a block-section or entering a block-section from a siding, (see Fig. 5,) or should any other condition arise to setvsuch home signal to its horizontal position, the opening of a circuit-breaker C C '&c., as the case may be,would', of course, cut -m a resistance-coil O O, &c.; but this action of the circuit-breaker C 0*, &c., mght not sufi iciently reduce the current flowing through the coils of the relays R R B &c.,

to release their armatures r r r, &c. The movement, however, of the quick-acting circuit-controllers C? C 620., will positively open the circuits controlling the relays R R R R R R, &c., momentarily while the home signal is traveling between the horizontal and inclined positions, and vice versa, but will close them before reaching either eX- treme position. the relays R R R, &c., so as to be slow. releasing is that their armatures r r r, &c., may not be effected by the momentary opening of thecontrolling-circuits.- On the other hand, the relays R R R &c.,as the case may be, will be denergized, permitting their armatures to drop and open the circuits on the semaphores controlled by them, so as to permit the semaphores to move to the horizontal position. This advantage is illustrated in Fig. 5, where we have shown a train or car T as entering the block-section A from a siding T. Under these conditions both semaphores of the railway-signal S are in the horizontal position, as is also'the distant semaphore s of the railway-signal S. It will be seen, therefore, that in the control of a home and distant signal or their equivalent three-position'signal but two line-wires are used instead of three, as heretofore, and that the individual control of a home or distant signal or their equivalent three-position signal is obtained by varying the resistance in the line-circuits for the signals.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim is 1. In a block-signaling system, the combi nation of a home semaphore and a distant each blocksection, a relay of one resistance for controlling a home signal, and a relay of a different resistance for controlling a distant signal, a line-circuitand battery for each pair of relays, a resistance, and means for cuttirig said resistance into and out of said line-circuit, the operation being such that when the resistance is in circuit with the relays only one of such relays will be energized by the battery in such circuit to attract its armature but when the resistance is cut out of the circuit both of the relays will be energized by current from the battery in such circuit to attract their armatures.

2. In a block-signaling system, the combination with a signal device having a plurality of positions of indication, located at the entrance end of a block-section, a relay of one resistance for controlling the indication ofthe signaling device for one block, and a relay of .An object of constructing a different resistance for controlling the indication of the signaling device for another block, both relays being located at the same point, a line-circuit and battery for each pair 7 of relays, a resistance, and means for cutting said resistance into and out of said line-circuit, the operation being such that when the resistance is in circuit with the relays only oneof such relays will be energized by the battery in such circuit to at tract itsarmature but when the resistance is cut out of the circuit both of the relays will be energized by current from the battery in, such circuit to attract their armatures.

3. In a blocl -sigr1aling system, the combination of a home semaphore and a distant semaphore located at the entrance .end of its armature but when the resistance is cut out of the circuit both of the relays will be energizcd by current "from the battery in such circuit to attract their armatures.

4. In a block-sig11aling system, the combination of a home semaphore and a distant semaphore located at the entrance end of each block-section, a relay of one resistance for controlling a home signal, and a relay of a dilferent resistance'i'or controlling a distant signal, both relays being located at the same point, a line-circuit and battery for each pair or relays, a resistance, and a circuit-co ntroller operated by a home signal of a different blocksection for cutting said resistance into and out of said line-circuit, the operation being such that when the resistance is in circuit with the relays only one of such relays will be energized by the battery in such circuit to attract its armature but when the resistance is cut out of the circuit both of the relays will be energized by current from the battery in such circuit to attract their armatures.

5. In a block-signaling system, the combination of a home semaphore and a distant semaphore located at the entrance end of each block-secti on, a relay of one resistance for controlling a home signal, and a relay of a different resistance for controlling a distant signal, both relays being located at the same point, a line-circuit and battery for each pair of relays, a resistance, and a circuit-controller operated by a home signal of a dilierent block-section for cutting said resistance into and out of said linecircuit, the operation being such that when the resistance is in circuit with therelays with a battery in t nation of a cuit, the operation being uch that when the 8. In a block-signaling system, the combination of a home and distant semaphore for each block-section, a relay for. each home and distant semaphore included inseries with'a only one of such relays will be energized by the battery in such circuit to attract-its armature but when the resistance is cut out of the circuit both of the relays will be energized by current from the battery in such circuit to attract their armatures.

6. In a block-signaling system, the combihome semaphore and a distant located at the entrance end. of. each block-section, a rela of one resistance and slow acting for contro ling a home signal, and a'rela of a different resistance for con- 1 trolling a istant signal, both relays being located at the same point, a line-circuit and battery for each pair of relays, a resistance, and a circuit-controller operated by a home signal, of a difierentblock-sectio'n for cutting said resistance into and out of said line-cireontro led means for varying the resistance in said line-circuit whereby one or both of said relays may be made to respond to .close the circuit on its semaphore.

9. In a block-signaling system, the combination of a home and distant semaphore for each block-section, a relay for each home and each distant sema hore included in series with a battery int sistance and means operated from a second home signal for cutting said resistance into and out of the line-circuit of the two relays, the o eration being that when the resistance is in t e line-circuit only one of the relays wil respond to the current of the battery, but

semaphore batter inthe same line-circuit, and train-- e same line-circuit, a reresistance is in circuit with the relays only.

one of such relays will be energized by the when out out of the'circu't both relays will batter in such circuit to attract its armature res 0nd to the current of the battery. but w en the resistance is cutout of the cirn testimony whereof wehave signed our cuit both of the relays will be energized-by? names to this specification each in 'theprescurrent 20m the battery in such clrcuit to ence of two subscribed witnesses. attract t eir armatures. I

7 In a block-signaling system, the combination of a home-and distant sema hore for each block-section, arelay foreach ome and Wltnesses for Azel Ames, J13: each distant sema hore included series DENNEY,

J. A; OCoNNoR.

' Witnesses for John S. Hobson.

- JAMES CHALMERS, Jr.,

CHARLES B. GRAGEY e same linecirci1it, a resistance, and train-controlled means for cutting said resistance into and out of the linecircuit. 

